Interested in starting your own business? Learn about entrepreneurship in 50 hours over an 8 week period. Working in teams, you will produce a business plan to form a startup company using the Osterwalder Canvas and a methodology called Concurrent Design.
The learning outcomes from the course are to:
- have developed entrepreneurship skills
- be able to apply Concurrent Design (CCD) to a business project
- be able to produce a Business Model Canvas i.e. business planning (by going through an iterative process)
- be able to develop a Business Model You canvas for personal development
- recognise and act on knowledge transfer opportunities
- analyse successful business stories and explain why they were/weren’t successful
- recognise a business opportunity with some degree of realism
Special emphasis will be given to an effective combination of self-directed learning based on well prepared, well-structured course material and computer supported collaborative work in small groups. You will be asked to form groups between you (4-6 members each group). In the context of the group you should discuss and choose an innovative idea (by the end of week 3 the latest), which will act as the basis for your entrepreneurship learning process and the relevant Business Plan development. Regarding the study of the suggested course material you are advised to initially split the work between you and then present it and discuss it with the rest of the people either in group or between groups. By the end of the 8th week you, as a group, will have to present your Business plan to all members of the course in form of a short video. The requirement is that you as a group have to present one business plan, but within your group, you may choose to work with multiple members' ideas.
One of the most important aspects of following such a course is communication between students and tutors and between students themselves, either in the context of the group or between groups. In the context of the Concurrent Design (CCD) sessions that you will be following, during weeks 3 to 6 a number of teleconference meetings will be organised for every one of you to participate, in order to interactively discuss your progress towards the aims and objectives of the course. In addition, you will have organise the communication between you in your own pace by using e-mails, Google Docs or any other means you will decide yourselves.
